E3 2006: Yoshi's Island 2 Hands-on

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That dinosaur's ready for another starring role. We check out the E3 build.

By Craig Harris

It's no secret that I think Yoshi's Island on the Super NES is pretty much the greatest platform game ever created. With that said you can imagine my excitement when Nintendo revealed that it's currently working on a sequel to that game. Brilliant! The game was in very early form at Nintendo's booth, and while it still needs a little bit of polish, it at least captures a lot of the Super NES original while adding a few new functions to the gameplay.

Apparently Baby Mario's in trouble again&#Array;but along with this little tyke Baby Princess Peach and Baby Donkey Kong have gotten into trouble too. Yoshi's once again recruited to help these little toddlers along to their final destination before anything harmful comes to them.

The Nintendo DS version is looking strikingly close to the Super NES version, both visually and gameplay-wise. The booth babe demonstrating the game at Nintendo's booth was surprised at how I knew how to get through some of the early challenges, but it's because I spent so much time with the original Yoshi's Island that it was easy to figure out. All the control mechanisms are the same: swallow enemy, poop enemy out as an egg that can be thrown. To throw an egg, players target its trajectory with a rising and falling cross-hair and fire it when it's at the preferred angle. Much of the game's puzzle elements are based around this mechanic, and even more so on the Nintendo DS platform as the level spans vertically across both Nintendo DS screens. The double-tall displays make targeting up high a bit more of a challenge, and it's sure to be an element explored in deeper levels outside of the E3 demo.

Yoshi's Island 2 also features a new mechanic: Yoshi's abilities are dependent on which baby he's carrying. There are "stork switches" that players can activate to switch between Mario and Princess, and theoretically Donkey Kong later in the game. Baby Mario gives Yoshi the ability to stomp enemies and move faster. Princess Peach gives Yoshi the ability to float up on currents of wind using her parasol, but Yoshi will just bounce off enemies heads harmlessly if stomped.

The game's visual style is tweaked from the Super NES game, using up the tightened up look of Yoshi Touch & Go. But like Yoshi's Island on the SNES, this sequel pushes a lot of technology-focused gameplay elements - in one level, players have to run and jump away from an absolutely massive screen and a half tall rolling boulder.

The control feels like it needs a little work - some higher jumps were more difficult to pull off, and the overall feel seemed not as tight as the original game. But it's still early, and Nintendo's notorious about tweaking a high profile game until it's just right.